


Learn To Do It

by Umbella



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, but sorikai is what i was going for, implied sorikai - Freeform, you can take it as anything u want
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 06:58:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18405497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umbella/pseuds/Umbella
Summary: He never should’ve let them dance.





	Learn To Do It

**Author's Note:**

> a recreation of the dance scene from Anastasia with the Destiny Trio instead. There’s no firm canon here, I’ve just been thinking about this for a long time since I rewatched that movie.

Riku’s face broke in a proud grin as he watched Kairi emerge in her new dress. He strode towards her, taking her hands lightly in his own and lifting them, and she giggled, swaying in her flowy peach-colored dress.

_ “ Now _ you’re dressed for a ball. ‘Bout time you learned how to dance for one, too.” 

He pulled her along with one hand and led her to the boy standing awkwardly across the deck, and grabbed his hand as well, grin never leaving his face. “I’d teach you, but Sora’s more your size.”

“Wh—Hey!”

“Sora,” Riku said, as he pushed them into standing face-to-face and backed off. Sora cleared his throat, rubbed the back of his neck. He let the slight insult to his height roll off his shoulders, distracted greatly by the vision of Kairi in her new dress, hair pulled back, but bangs still framing her beautiful features.

“Ah, I, hah, I’m not very that good at dancing.” He swallowed, trying not to blush.

Despite this confession, they naturally fell in line after a firm nod from Riku, telling them they ought to do as they’re told. 

Sora slid his hand onto her waist and she set hers on his shoulder, rested her other hand in his. Sora felt a shiver down his spine, stemming from the point where his hands met her skin. Ah. What were these feelings, all of the sudden? He’d never been this close to girl before. That must be it. 

“Now,” Riku directed.

They took steps back and forth, watching each other’s feet, following Riku’s counts of one-two-three, stiff. But it didn’t last long before Riku cut in.

“No, no—Kairi,”

She blinked at him, breaking away from Sora.

“You don’t lead. Let him. And don’t look down, look at each other. Again,”

It was all going very fast, she thought. But she took a breath and nodded, confident she could learn to do this, too.

Sora held out his hand and she took it, and they fell back into position again. She did as she was told and let him lead, letting herself relax into the movements and trying not to be stiff. Riku no longer counted, just watched with his arms crossed, leaning against the side of the ship. They were staring pretty intensely into each other’s eyes. Kairi looked so focused, but the constant eye contact in complete silence was making Sora nervous. He couldn’t stand not to break it.

“You, um—you look great in that dress.” Sora stuttered our, clearing his throat between words. He barely thought before he spoke. Kairi smiled, spinning across the floor as he lead her.

“You really think so?” She looked happy. He smiled back, her grin infecting him.

“Definitely! It, uh, I mean, I really liked it on the hanger, but, you make it a whole ‘nother thing. You—You should wear it.”

She giggled, he let go with on hand, spinning her around and pulling her back in gracefully. She fell back into him, hand on his shoulder once more.

“I am wearing it.” She said teasingly, smile ever-present. His knees felt kinda weak, suddenly.

“R-Right! Of course, I just mean, you know, I’m just trying to... uh...” His tongue twisted until he couldn’t get anymore words out, her grin and her eyes on his rending him totally useless, putting his movements on auto-pilot.

“Compliment me?”

“Yeah! Hah... Yeah.” His voice got softer, and the jitters he felt slowly melted into a nice warmth that settled in his chest and made him feel like maybe they were floating.

They continued, getting better and more fluid the longer they danced. Riku observed from a distance, smiling as he admired how confidently Kairi danced while still letting her partner take the lead. Sora wasn’t bad himself, but Riku already knew that. They looked beautiful, natural together. Everything was going exactly as planned. Except... Riku, who had been smiling up until this point, had his expression slowly fall. Kairi and Sora got closer as they continued, and he heard them chatter quietly to each other, laughing every now and again, smiles big. But after a little while, they stopped talking at all, only gazing into each other’s eyes. In Riku’s mind, something suddenly clicked. Oh.

He swallowed, turned around abruptly, leaning his hands on the side of the ship. Suddenly he felt like he was seeing something he wasn’t meant to see. He stared into the water, cogs turning in his head.

Was this a mistake? He ran his hand through his hair. How were they going to get through this if they...? An unexpected feeling suddenly gripped his heart, it startled him so much that he grabbed the front of his shirt. Oh, god, he thought. How was  _ he _ going to get through this?

Before he could think too hard about  any  of that, he turned back around and sat down on the bench. He leaned on his hand and put his nonchalant mask back up. He watched them again, not wanting to be noticed acting weird. But from the looks of things, they were totally oblivious to anything other than each other. A sinking feeling washed over him.

He never should’ve let them dance.

Kairi and her unwitting dance partner were still at it. Obviously, Sora wasn’t as bad at dancing as he seemed to think, and Kairi was an absolute natural. They didn’t need anymore practice. And yet...

“I’m... getting a little dizzy.” Kairi said quietly. They swayed, not spinning so much anymore, just slowly stepping back and forth. 

“Lightheaded?”

“Yeah...” 

“Me too,” Sora said in close to a whisper, stepping back once more and then stopping, “Probably from spinning...” He looked down at her hands, taking them both in his and running his thumbs gently over her fingers. Kairi’s heart thumped audibly in her ears.

“...Maybe we should stop.”

“We have stopped.” 

He looked up at her. Her expression was a little dazed, to match his. He swallowed. His heart was beating faster, and not from the dancing.

“Kairi, I...”

“Yeah?” She stared expectantly. He smiled, having a hard time making eye contact with her but feeling butterflies flit about in his stomach. 

Without thinking, he leaned forward. Both of their eyes closed, and they got so close, until—

Riku cleared his throat loudly, standing up. Kairi jerked back, hands leaving Sora’s abruptly. His eyes opened slowly, and he blinked, like he wasn’t sure what just happened. But he quickly retracted his hands from their spot still where they previously held hers. She held her hands behind her back, staring down, hoping her blush wasn’t obvious. She wished her hair was down so she could hide her face in it.

“You’re doing great,” Sora barely kept himself from squeaking the words, poorly recovering. He forced himself to regain his composure, taking a step towards her only to awkwardly pat her shoulder and walk past her. He was running away, very obviously bolting before he had to give any sort of name to what just happened between them. She turned, staring after him until he was gone. She took an unsteady breath, staying like that, just staring for the longest time after he was gone. But after a while she remembered Riku who was surely still out here, and turned to look at him. He got caught staring. 

Riku quickly looked away, but knew she’d seen him anyway. He sniffled awkwardly, but spoke anyway, forcing himself to make eye contact. 

“That was perfect. I’d say you’ve got it down.” He smiled at her, and it was genuine—he really was proud of her. But that feeling from before still lingered, and the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes. Kairi noticed, and felt a little uneasy. Also embarrassed. Riku surely had seen  _ everything. _

“But you should get some sleep, Kai. We all should. Big day tomorrow.” He said that, but he didn’t move from that spot. Feet felt stuck to the floor.

“...Riku,” She sounded as though she were about to say something important, because she took a few steps towards him as she said it. He fake coughed into his hand, cutting her off. The tone of her voice unstuck his feet from the wood.

“I’m pretty tired, myself. Come on, then,” He spoke a little too quickly, smiling a little less genuinely at her and walking past her the same way Sora did. She was left standing on the deck, holding her hands together in front of her, staring after the empty spaces the boys once occupied.

She felt a stirring in her heart as she glanced down at her hands. She remembered the feeling of floating across the deck with Sora, of warmth in her chest. She remembered the strange look on Riku’s face and the way he avoided talking to her just now. Her stomach twisted in two directions.

What was she supposed to do now? Suddenly, things felt a lot more complicated. 


End file.
